


Lessons Learnt

by Sweven



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Kid Fic, Light Angst, Teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-16 19:45:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14172120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweven/pseuds/Sweven
Summary: As a kid, Ahsoka struggled with many things. Sometimes you just need someone to lift you up and give a word of encouragement.





	Lessons Learnt

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Roguefemme](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roguefemme/gifts).



> For @thrawnisbae for the Jedifest Alien April exchange. The prompts were "Stuck in an unfamiliar situation", "unexpected ally", and "teach me", I hope it's to your liking!
> 
> Big thank you goes out to @amilynh for the beta!

 

It was night. Silent. Empty. The moon cast long, stark shadows on the ground. A quiet gust of wind disturbed the still surface of the water, and Ahsoka stepped out of the shadows, as quiet as a mouse.  
  
This was her chance to prove herself.

 

Ahsoka had seen Master Ti a few weeks ago, had stared at the beautiful older Togruta and the sharp teeth framing her face and Ahsoka's brow had felt bare.

Where the beads adorning Master Ti’s face came from, Ahsoka didn’t know, but she’d heard the stories about the teeth. They had been taken from an akul, a great beast that Master Ti had fought all by herself.  
  
Since Ahsoka had seen the head-dress she’d thought of little else.  
She had not yet earned any ornaments, no teeth or beads or other decoration sat on her forehead. The Jedi had taught her to avoid frivolous things if they had no meaning, and Ahsoka wasn't sure how earning the ornaments would even work as a youngling at the Temple.

There weren't many Togruta here, and she didn’t know who to ask, how these things worked. Master Ti was too scary to ask and besides, she hadn’t stayed for more than a few days.  
Ahsoka was almost 6, shouldn’t she already have fashioned herself a head-piece?

She barely remembered her village, didn’t know how the people of Shili usually did this, but she desperately wanted a set of akul-teeth for her own head-dress. Somehow it felt important.

 

Ahsoka was sure that she was good enough to fell the beast, knew that if she only got the chance _she_ would wear the akul-teeth on her brow. In a sudden burst of resolve, she decided to talk to Master Yoda after one of their lessons.

The subject of the day had been reading. The words were difficult for Ahsoka, tricky. She hated that she hadn’t grasped the concept yet, that it somehow eluded her. Even thinking about the dreaded words on the datapad made her stomach tangle with unease.  
Even worse, no-one else had trouble reading the stories about the Bantha and the Droid and their adventures.

Her failure at reading wasn’t something that had gone unnoticed by the others in her crèche. When it was Ahsoka’s turn to read from the datapad, she stumbled her way through the text, and everyone snickered. The teasing hadn’t subsided until Ahsoka’s cheeks burned with anger and shame and Master Yoda interfered with a gentle reminder.

»Kind, we must be, especially to those who struggle.«

His sage words cut through the chatter, and all Ahsoka’s crèche-mates nodded solemnly. His gentle reprimand wouldn’t make any difference, of this Ahsoka was sure.  
  
Besides, their teasing only strengthened her resolve.

 

After the lesson Ahsoka told Master Yoda of her plans to hunt an akul, how the hunt was in her blood and how if he’d only let her have a lightsaber to fight with, she could be just like Master Ti. Ahsoka practically bounced up and down as she spoke to the Jedi who was smaller than even her.

»Patience,« was all Master Yoda said. He wasn’t unkind, Ahsoka thought, he’d smiled with wrinkled, green lips, but it was still a rejection, and Ahsoka hadn't been able to mask her disappointment.

Her face fell, and her cheeks puffed into a pout and she stared at her feet. For a moment she’d been sure that Master Yoda would chastise her for not keeping her emotions under wraps, but the wizened old Jedi had only tutted at her and sent her off to join the other younglings in the pool.

 

The pool was one of Ahsoka’s favourite spots in the Temple. It was located in one of the most beautiful courtyards of the Temple, with warm, yellow slabs of stone and vibrant plants. It was a rare spot of nature amidst the noise of Coruscant and the tranquillity inside of the Temple. Ahsoka enjoyed wading through the clear, green water, feeling the tiny fish tickle her feet as they swam by.

She could stay in the pool all day if not for their instructor. The Padawan insisted that they learn to swim, and Ahsoka enjoyed that about as much as she did reading.

Swimming made no _sense_. Why wouldn’t her limbs just help her stay afloat instead of weighing her down? No matter what Ahsoka did, she sank deeper into the water, arms and legs flailing uselessly about, and once again shame burned in her cheeks as her crèche-mates laughed.

The Padawan instructor sighed with exasperation as she dragged Ahsoka back to the edge, and Ahsoka sat there for the rest of the lesson, wondering how she could ever be a Jedi when she was failing at everything.

 

Now her small lekku flopped quietly against her neck as she ran over slick stone still warm under her slippers from the now-set sun. The pond was empty now, only the fish remained to keep her company.

Ahsoka swiftly left the long shadow of the Temple behind, eager to get out of sight of the tall windows. She stopped suddenly and held her breath - a sound? Being caught now wouldn’t do, not when she was this close. She pricked up her montrals, listening carefully. Nothing but the quiet sloshing of water against the side of the deep pool.

Continuing past the area where the younglings had splashed around earlier, Ahsoka stepped into the grown-up area where the water plants grew wild and the water was deeper. The fish were bigger here. Ahsoka saw the shadow of one the size of her leg swim by, and she gulped softly.

The fear and doubt almost made her turn back to her cot, back to her crèche-mates and their soft snores in the dorm. Except… If she went back and they found out, they’d laugh again.

Ahsoka toed off her slippers and dipped her toes in the water. It was freezing cold, the night chill had set in hours ago, but her decision was made. Ahsoka gritted her teeth and stepped in. This was her chance to prove herself without any of her crèche-mates laughing at her, without anyone seeing her fail again.

She would learn to swim tonight and then tomorrow everyone would be impressed.

Ahsoka waded into the water until it came up to her waist when her determination wavered again. The water in the pool seemed so deep now… She couldn’t see the bottom in front of her and — before she could change her mind, Ahsoka jumped.

She sank like a stone. The water was everywhere, cold and dark, and though Ahsoka tried so hard to stay afloat, all she seemed to do was to sink. Her limbs were useless and the light from the full moon grew distorted and dim as she sank towards the bottom.  
  
_No_ , Ahsoka thought, _this wasn_ _’t how this was supposed to go!_  
  
Something touched her calf, something pointy and scaly, and Ahsoka let out shout of terror, felt her lungs burning as she breathed in water and as she thrashed around she realised that this had been a terrible mistake.

 

Suddenly something warm and strong enveloped her, and Ahsoka clung to the mass desperately. It carried her to the surface and with a gasp, they broke into open air. Ahsoka coughed up water in small hiccoughing breaths. The warm mass swam to the edge and placed her on a warm rock.

 _Master Fisto_ , Ahsoka realised as she saw his green tentacles and the effortless way he pulled himself from the water.

»You're lucky I were here, child,« Master Fisto knelt down and looked at Ahsoka with a frown, his large eyes filled with concern. »By the stars, you could have drowned!«

Ahsoka looked at her feet intently, hating the way her small body shivered in the cold, hating the way the tears forced their way out of her under the Master's scrutiny.

Another failure.

Master Fisto noticed her distress and softened his voice. »Why are you not in your bed? It’s far too late for you to wander around, especially alone.«

»I…,« Ahsoka tried to reply, tried to be brave, but acknowledging her failure stung worse than the water in her lungs had. In the end she just shook her head.

»What’s your name, youngling?,« the Nautolan asked gently.

»’Soka,« Ahsoka sniffled, failing to keep her voice from catching.

»Ah, Plo’s little Togruta. Come on child, let’s find you something to dry you with.«  His warm arms surrounded her in a gentle hug and Ahsoka clung to him as he lifted her.

The Jedi Master walked smoothly towards the Temple, softly murmuring nonsense to her the entire time as small sobs escaped her.

»I wanted to learn to swim,« Ahsoka finally muttered into Master Fisto’s shoulder once the sobs had subsided a bit. »Everyone else already knows how to do it, and _I don_ _’t._ I don’t know how to do anything…«

Master Fisto hummed quietly, long tentacles shifting as he walked. »I’m sure that’s not true, little one.«

Ahsoka shook her head violently, her small lekku hitting Master Fisto’s face. »No it _is_! I’m the only one who can’t swim, I can’t read properly, a-and I’m sure that I can hunt like Master Ti can, but Master Yoda won’t let me! I can’t do anything right… I’m useless…«

Master Fisto was quiet at that, a solemn kind of silence that made Ahsoka even more embarrassed.

It was like her crèche-mates all over again, like Yoda’s disappointment, like the way the Padawan rolled her eyes and sighed, and Ahsoka tucked her face into Master Fisto’s shoulder again, keeping her jaw clenched as she tried to keep her emotions from showing.

  
He sat her down onto a bench just inside the Temple and retrieved a towel. Ahsoka stared at the floor, shivering with cold and wished that she had stayed in her bed.  
  
As he wrapped her in the soft cloth, he spoke softly. »Little one, you’re far from useless. Reading, swimming, fighting — these are all skills you’ll learn soon enough,« he looked at her with his shiny black eyes and his lips curled slightly. »You’ll never believe me, but when I was a youngling, I could barely lift a rock the size of my fist.«

Ahsoka looked up at him from under the thick blanket as he made a fist and nodded at her. »Plo tells me that you’re already far more proficient that that, isn’t that true?«

Ahsoka nodded and a soft sound of laughter escaped her. »I lifted Master Yoda the other day. Almost dropped him though. He wasn’t too pleased, I think.«

Master Fisto let out a hearty laugh and Ahsoka shuffled a bit closer to him. He was nice, she thought. Nice like Master Plo, but… louder. Ahsoka liked him.

Suddenly Ahsoka got an idea. »Master…,« she started and Master Fisto gathered himself again. »Maybe… Maybe you could teach me how to swim?«

He looked at her for a moment, and Ahsoka held her breath. »Tell you what, youngling,« Master Fisto smiled at her and Ahsoka looked up at him with large, wet eyes. »I _will_ teach you — «, Ahsoka’s squeak of excitement was stilled as he held up a hand, »but I demand payment.«

Ahsoka looked at the Nautolan curiously. What in the stars could the Jedi Master want from her? She had nothing but her small collection of tiny figures of animals. Ahsoka supposed that she _could_ pay with those, but she really didn’t want to part with the bantha — hopefully he wouldn’t ask for that one.  
»I require tales of your accomplishments,« the green-skinned man said with a wide smile.

As Ahsoka realised what he meant, a pout grew on her face, and much to her displeasure, Master Fisto only grinned wider.

 

They met every day after Ahsoka’s lessons. Every day Ahsoka would be eager to get in the pool, but Master Fisto would swoop her into his arms and wait until she told him of something that went well that day.  
  
Every day she pouted and insisted that nothing had gone right, that everything had been a failure until Master Fisto held a finger up to quiet her.

Finally Ahsoka would say that maybe she’d known the name of that planet that no-one else had remembered or that she was the fastest to finish the run today or how Master Vos had told her that he liked the back flip she did. Ahsoka would blush at first, but at the end she was always excited, her eyes gleaming with confidence and pride.

At that point Master Fisto would give her an impressed nod and toss her into the water with a wide smile, diving in after her.

Day after day Ahsoka grew more confident moving around in the water...and less resistant to telling Master Fisto of her successes.

 

* * *

  

It had been years since the swimming lessons had abruptly ended.  
   
The Clone Wars had called Master Fisto away to the front, and Ahsoka had sulked to see him go.

At that point, she was a capable swimmer, but she had liked talking to Master Fisto, grown to enjoy regaling her accomplishments to the man.

Soon Ahsoka would no longer be an Initiate. Soon she would be a Jedi Padawan, assigned to a Knight and called to a greater purpose.

The prospect was intimidating to all of them. Her friends, the other initiates were all worried, whispering secrets of fear and what-if’s in the corners but Ahsoka relished her future.

She wasn’t unafraid, the lingering bits of self-doubt at the back of her mind might never disappear entirely, but Ahsoka had learnt long ago to trust in herself, to believe that she was capable of just about anything.

Ahsoka walked with through the Temple with purposeful strides, twin lightsabers hanging at her side, her brow heavy with the new adornment there.

She walked past the tiny younglings splashing water at the tired-looking Padawan in charge of their lesson and smiled for the lessons they had yet to learn.

She only stopped at the deep end of the pool where she found who she sought. »Master Fisto,« she called his attention and the Nautolan turned as he patted his tentacles dry.

Master Fisto looked at her, taking in the teeth framing her face and the tell-tale glimmer of pride in her eyes, and he smiled at her. »Ahsoka. I see you have a tale to tell me. I’ve been waiting for this one for years.«

 


End file.
